Operating means



y 1927- A. H. STEBBINS OPERATI NG MEANS Filed Feb. 6, 1926 2, Sheets-Sheet l u M u m n IIIL l I l l ll 4. t v

I Inc 1,627,675 y 10 1927f 'H. STEBBINS OPERATING MEANS Filed Fb. e, 1926 2 sheets-span.

ATTORNEY Patented May 10, 1927. 1

ALBERT H. STEBBINS, OFLOS' ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

OPERATING MmrN-s.

Application filed February 6,1926. Serial No. 86,634.-

his invention relates to operating means In the d1a WiI1gsg 55 for unpartmg a progressive v1bratory=move F 1g. 1- 1S a side elevation of. a supporting.

ment to concentrator deck-s, screens and other casing provided with aframe mounted for devices supported for vibratory movement. back and forth movement and shows oper- The proper operation of concentrator atingmeans constructed in accordance with decks, screens, and? other vibratory devices the-present invention. 60

for separating materials, depends largely Fig. 2 is aplan View of the: supporting.

upon the strength and: nature of the casing; and operating mechanisnr of F i-g.. 1,

movement employed. In the case of conthe vibratory frame being shown in dot-and centrators the movement should be sufdash lines.

ficiently energetic to advance the ma- Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view showing. 6 ter-ia'ls over the deck surface and to the operating mechanism of Figs; 1 and 2 promote settling of the heavier materials, on an enlarged scale; and but it should not be strong enough to dis- Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of the turb the" stratifying operation. Inthe case operating crank shaft.

of screens and other vibratory separators the The operating means forming: the sub.-' 70 movement should' be sufficiently energetic-to ject of the present invention may be 6111+ subject all particles to the separating operaployed to impart a progressive movement tion, but should not advance the materials to concentrator decks, screens and various so rapidly that they are not permitted to other devicessupported for vibratorv'moveseparate. ment The frame 10, shown in'Fig; 1 of the 75 In operating concentrators, screens and: drawing as mounted for back: and. forth h ib t d i it? may b d sirable movement in the direction of itslength; may at f t intervals t Val-y th nature f. have aconcentrator deck mounted thereth'e'movement employed to thereby accomupon, or may support anapertured screen modatechanges in' the conditions of the or any. other device to Which it is desired materials being treatech. There-is therefore toimpa-rt a progressive vibratory movement. an' urgent'need for a simpleform of operat- The supporting casing may be given any ing means that may be readily adjusted to desired construction, and asshown consists 30 produce any desired type of" progressive of the uprights 11 to which the longitudimovement, and thepresent invention is na'lly extendingrails 12 areconnectedi The 8 thereforedirected to a novel constrnctionm means shown for supporting: the frame 10 hi d; upon-thecasing for back and forth move- Ghe important feature of the present inment consistsofthe transversely extending:

vention resides in arocking arm or its equiv shafts 13 disposed near the opposite ends alent' that is supported to'eXtend-fromits of the supporting casing and these shafts axisof rotation inthe general direction of are supportedzby the brackets 14' securedto the cable let-oft movement, and ina cable the upper portion of the casing. At the that extendsfrom the rocking arm to the opposite ends of the shafts 13" are'provided 40 frame to bevibrated, so that movement of the. downwardly extending arms 15, and

the arm through a limited a-ng le'will impart these arms are provided near their lower a variable speed movement to the frame.v ends withthe laterally extendingsstub shafts Another important feature of the inven- 16. The stub shafts project into bearing: tion' resides in the'construction'whereby the bracketsl'? secured' to the under face of the' nature ofitheprogressive movement impartframe 10.. The arrangement is: such that ed to the frame may be varied as desired a slightrising. and falling movement is-imby changing. the position of the angle parted to theframe 10' as it moves back through which the rocking arm swings-.- ward and forward. The construction so far Other features of the invent-ion and novel described-formsno essential part of the pres- 50 bi ti f parts in: addition to the ent'invention and-may be Varied as desired:

abovewill be hereinafter describedin-con- In the'embodiment of the inventiondllus nection with the accompanying drawings trated spring meansis shown for'. moving which illustrate onegoochpractical formof the: frame 10 in the left hand' direction, the invention. viewing: Fig-:1, and. power meansis shown for moving the frame in the right-hand direction. The spring operating means shown consists of a cable 18 one end of which is secured to a tube or rod 19 that is adjustably secured to the frame 10, and the other end of this cable is secured to a bolt 20 the end of which is threaded and is provided with the nuts 21. A coiled spring 22 is confined between the nuts 21 and a transversely extending beam 23 of the supporting casing. The arrangement is such that the tension of the spring 22 may be varied as desired by adjusting the nuts 21 to thereby vary the force exerted upon the frame 10 to move it in a left-hand direction. An intermediate portion of the cable 18 is bent about a grooved sheave 24; mounted upon the shaft 25 and the ends of this shaft are supported by the brackets 26 secured to the longitudinally extending rails 27, which rails form a part of the supporting casing, and are mounted between the side rails 12.

The power operated means for moving the frame 10 in opposition to the tension of the spring 22 may be variously constructed and as shown consists of a cable 28 one end of which is secured to a rod or tube 29 secured to the frame 10 and the other end of the cable 28 is fastened to rocking means to be described. An intermediate portion of the cable 28 is bent about a grooved sheave 30 mounted upon the transversely extending shaft 31 the ends of which are supported by the brackets 32.

The rocking means to which the lower end of the cable 28 is secured may constitute a crank shaft, rocking arm, or other means which when rocked about its pivotpoint-will impart a variable speed movement to the cable 28. The means to this end shown consists of a. crank shaft 33 having the offset arms 34 that are connected by the wrist pin 35. The end portions of the crank shaft 33 are journaled in bearing brackets 36 secured to the lower portion of the supporting casing. The arrangement is such that the wrist pin of the crank shaft extends upwardly from the axis of the crank shaft in the direction of the cable let-off movement. The lower end portion of the cable 28 is attached to the crank shaft in the construction shown by looping the same about a grooved spool 37 mounted upon the wrist pin of the crank shaft. From the construction just described it will be seen that as the crank shaft 33 is rocked from the full line position of Fig. 1 to the dotted line position the cable will be tensioned .to pull the frame 10 in the right-hand direction.

Power means is provided for moving the crank shaft or the like from the full line position to the dotted line position and consists of a cable 38 one end of which is anchored by a bolt 39 provided with an adjustable nut 40 which secures the bolt to a transversely extending beam 41. An intermediate portion of the cable 38 is looped about a grooved sheave 12 that is mounted upon an eccentric 43 which eccentric is secured to or is formed integral with the power shaft 44lwhich may be driven by a pulley not.

shown. This shaft is rotatably supported by the bearing brackets 45 secured to the supporting casing. The other end of the cable 38 may be secured to the crank shaft similarly to the manner in which the lower end of the cable'28 is secured to the crank shaft; that is, the end of the cable 38 is looped about a grooved spool 416 mounted upon the wrist pin 35 of the crank shaft, and the spools 37 and 416 may be held in spaced relation to each other by a collar or sleeve 4:7 mounted upon the wrist pin.

From the construction just described it will be seen that as the operating shaft 4%- rotates the eccentric upon this shaft will move the grooved sheave 4:2 bodily towards and from the cable tightening position to thereby pull the crank shaft to the dotted position shown in Fig. 1 and then release it to return to the vertical or full-line position. It may be desirable to provide a spring 18 which will serve to keep the cable 38 taut, and one end of which spring is anchored to the machine frame at 49, while the other end may be secured to the eye that is fastened to the sleeve 4L7 mounted upon the wrist pin 35.

The operation of the mechanism just described may be more clearly understood upon reference to Fig. 3 wherein the lines 0 to 45 inclusive designate the degrees of a circle, through which the crank arm may swing but the rocking arms are shown as.

moving back and forth from the zero to the 25 line. It will be apparent however that the angle through which the crank arms swing may be increased or decreased as de: sired by varying the shape of the operating eccentric d3. It will also. be apparent that the angle through which the arms 3%- of the crank shaft rock backward and forward may be shifted to any desired position about the axis of the crank shaft 33. This may be done by adjusting the nut 40 at the anchored end of the cable 38 to thereby vary the effective length of this cable. The movement of the arms 34%: however is preferably confined to a small angle (say less than 40) lying near the dead centre position which the arms occupy with respect to the ctble 28. This is desirable because the movement imparted to the frame 10 decreases rapidly as the arms 3a approach the dead center position in which they are shown in full lines in Fig. 3, and increases rapidly as the arms approach the dotted line position in which they are shown in this figure.

From the above description, when read in connection with the drawings, it will be seen that the. springs 22 and: 48 serve to move the frame 10' in the left-hand d rection, and that the speed with which the frame 10 moves in thisdirection willgradually decrease as'the crank arms 84: approach the vertical or fullsline position. It will also be seen that the power operated means described serves to pull the crank arms 3 L from the full-line to the dotted-line position, and that this will serve to move the frame 10 in a right-hand direction with aslow initial movement that increases as the crank arms 34% approach the inclined or dotted line position. This serves to imparta progressive movement to the frame 10 that advances the materials being treated in the right-hand direction.

If a slight rising and falling movement is imparted to the frame 10 as in the construction shown in Fig. 1, it might be desirable to vary the connection between the frame and the operating cables 18 and 28. The rods 19 and 29 secured to the ends of these cables are therefore shown as adjustably mounted in the brackets 51 fastened to the transversely extending bars 52 of the frame 10, and the nuts 53 with which these rods are provided may be adjusted to move the frame 10 lengthwise of the cables. A turn buckle 54 is preferably provided to connect the inner ends of the rods 19 and 29 so that the pull of one cable may be transmitted directly to the other through the turn buckle 54.

From the foregoing description and draw ings it will be seen that the operating means of the present invention is extremely simple in construction and that the nature of the progressive movement imparted to the frame 10 may be varied as desired by simply varying the effective length of the operating cable 38 to thereby change the position of the angle through which the arms 34 rock with respect to the dead centre position in which they are shown in full lines in Fig. 3

lVhat is claimed is:

1. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a rocking element or arm supported to extend from its axis of rotation in the direction of cable let-off movement, a cable extending from the arm to the frame, and means for rocking the element or arm through a small angle to and from its dead centre position with respect to the cable to thereby tighten and slack off the cable.

2. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a rocking arm supported so that it extends from its axis of rotation in the direction of cable let-off movement, a cable extending from saio arm to the frame, and means for rocking said arm through a small angle to and from its dead centre position with respect to the cable to thereby impart a variable speed movement to the frame as the arm approaches and recedes from such dead centre position.

3; In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising yielding means for moving the frame in one direction, and power actuated means for moving the frame in the opposite direction, consist ing of a rocking element or arm supported to extend from its axis of rotation in the direction of the cable let-off movement, a cable extending from the element or arm to the frame, power means acting upon the element or arm to move it through a small angle from its dead centre position with respect to said cable to impart an accelerated movement to the cable and then release the element or arm to return to the vicinity of said dead centre position.

l. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a rocking element or arm supported to extend from its axis of rotation in the direction of cable let-off movement, a cable having one end secured to said arm and the other end secured to the frame, power means for moving the arm through a small angle from its dead centre position with respect to said cable, and spring means for returning the arm to the vicinity of said dead centre position.

-5. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for imparting a progressive movement to the frame, comprising a rocking element or arm supported to extend from its axis of rotation in the direction of cable let-off movement, a cable extending from the element or arm to the frame, means for rocking the element or arm through a small angle adjacent its dead centre position with respect to said cable to tension and slack off the cable, and adjustable means for changing the position of the are through which the element or arm swings to thereby vary the accelerated movement imparted to the frame.

6. In combination with a frame supported for vibratory movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a crank shaft having an off-set portion extending from the axis of the crank shaft in the direction of the pull upon the off-set portion, a cable extending from said off-set portion to the frame, and means for rocking the crank shaft through a small angle lying near the dead centre position of the crank shaft with respect to the cable to alternately tension and slack off the cable.

7. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a rocking member having a cable engaging portion disposed at one side of the axis about which the member rocks and lying from said axis in the cable let-off direction, a cable extending from the frame to said cable engaging portion, and means for rocking said member through a small angle lying near the dead centre position of the rocking member with respect to the cable to impart an accelerated movement to the frame that decreases as the member approaches said dead centre position and increases as the member moves from said position.

8. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a rocking element or arm supported to extend from the frame to the element or arm, :POWGI,

means for rocking the element or arm through a limited angle in the cable take-up direction away from the dead centre position of the arm With respect to the cable to impart to the frame a slow initial movement that gradually increases in speed as the angle of the arm changes, and yielding means for rocking the element or arm in the opposite direction to return it to the approximate dead centre position.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification. v

ALBERT H. STEBBI-NS. 

